West Bank is “on the brink of collapse”, warned this Tuesday the United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, during a briefing before the UN Security Council.
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The official reported that 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have died during 2026 at the hands of Israeli forces or settlers, while three Israelis have also been recorded dead, including one civilian, during the same period.
According to Alakbarov, the deterioration of the situation is not due to a recent phenomenon, but is the consequence of decades of unresolved conflict.
In his intervention, he stated that this scenario has deepened what the United Nations considers an illegal Israeli occupation, weakened the Palestinian Authority, and reduced the prospects of establishing an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state.
One of the main concerns expressed by the official was the increase in violence carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities.
Alakbarov stated that the United Nations has documented more than 1,430 incidents involving Israeli settlers over the past eight months, recorded in around 260 Palestinian communities. According to his presentation, many of these episodes occurred in the presence of Israeli forces.
“The Palestinian population is being forcibly displaced, increasingly frequently, from villages throughout the West Bank before settlers take over the unoccupied lands,” he said.
The violence of the settlers adds, according to the United Nations, to the Israeli military operations and movement restrictions imposed in various sectors of the West Bank, measures that, according to Alakbarov, continue to affect the daily life of the population and the functioning of humanitarian operations.
At the same time, Alakbarov pointed out that 3,800 Palestinians have been displaced during 2026 as a result of settler violence, demolitions, and evictions. Almost half of the displaced people would be children.
The figure rises to 6,390 Palestinians displaced since January 2023, according to the background presented to the Security Council.
As an example of the deterioration of conditions in the West Bank, Alakbarov mentioned the operation carried out last week by Israeli forces in the Qalandia refugee camp.
According to the UN representative, the operation left dozens of Palestinians injured, more than 60 detained, and caused “substantial” material damage.
Before the 15 members of the Security Council, Alakbarov called for “urgent action” and stated that the situation in the West Bank must be considered an emergency.
“They are promoting a de facto annexation,” he said, referring to what he described as a set of interrelated measures that would be progressively changing the territorial reality of the West Bank.
